THE CIA: Rising Criticism Of the Leaks

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What most outraged the Administration, however, was that the committee had violated an agreement with President Ford. In exchange for secret documents about covert CIA activities in Italy, Angola and Iraq, as well as the "Hollystone" project (involving U.S. subs edging close to Soviet shores to monitor missile launchings), the committee had promised it would not disclose any details if Ford decided that their release would jeopardize national security. Then the committee voted 9 to 4 to renege on the promise, reasoning that no one in the Executive Branch had the right to censor a report from a congressional committee.

As Ford made one last attempt to get the committee to stick to its original pledge, the report was leaked. Although Pike insisted that the source of the leak was not known, committee investigators told TIME that members of the committee's staff were responsible.

Tough Standards. Ford insisted he had been doublecrossed. In the House, a dozen Republicans rose to protest the committee's bad faith. North Carolina's James Martin was so furious he sputtered: "Holy mackerel, Mr. Speaker!" The senior Republican on the Pike committee, Robert McClory of Illinois, protested: "What agency do you think will provide us information if it thinks we cannot be trusted?"

Many Democrats found that argument persuasive, and the House voted 246 to 124 to require the Pike committee to delete the disputed material before formally issuing its report. The rebuke came too late, since the sensitive information has already been disclosed. The dispute will probably prompt Congress to adopt tougher standards on secrecy than might otherwise have been the case. For example, Tennessee Republican Senator William Brock has sponsored legislation that would punish congressional staff members with fines of up to $100,000 and jail terms of up to 20 years for leaking secret information.

Meanwhile the much criticized CIA received some strong support from President Ford, who spoke at the ceremonies installing Bush as new director of the agency. While saying that the CIA must be prevented from exceeding its authority, Ford declared: "We cannot improve this agency by destroying it. Let me assure you I have no intention of seeing this intelligence community dismantled and its operations paralyzed or effectively undermined."